Digpak analysis - Britney Spears, Femme Fatale

Britney Spears is of the musical genre Pop. She released her album Femme Fatale in March 2011 which was her seventh studio album. On the front cover of her digipak for femme fatale there is a close up photo of her face and she is wearing a white fluffy scarf. The slight background that we see is also white. Britney pears has blonde hair which has connotations of innocence which is ironic as the title of the album 'femme fatale' means an attractive and seductive woman, especially one who will ultimately cause distress to a man who becomes involved with her, which is the exact opposite to what white and blonde normally connote. The lighting on the cover has been edited slightly to show a gold tinge to the whole cover, making Britney slightly golden and enhances her blonde hair. The title itself is also in dark gold which is goes with the gold edit theme. The font of this album title uses swirls and is in capitals to show that she is bold and holds power over men and is a 'seductive woman'. Using a French title for this album is to make Britney Spears seem more attractive and sexy and stereotypically French woman are seen as 'sexual'. Britney Spears's name is all in lower case.

On the back cover of this digipak Britney Spears in standing next to a window with hair over her face looking away from the camera, she is wearing black. Black is often associated with something sexy and seductive. Black creates/ has connotations of a sense of mystery. This is to also promote Britney Spears as a strong independent woman who is a sex symbol. There is again this edit of gold on her which is fake lighting and suits this genre of pop as there are generic conventions such as a materialistic setting as the window does not look like a real setting but looks like a set and there is fake lighting on her. The bar code is in the lower right hand corner which seems to be a common place to put it on a digipak after looking at many digipaks. The list of songs in this album run down the middle of the picture of a window. If I were to make this digipak I wouldn't have put the titles of the song down the photo of a window because it goes over the wooden panels of the window and does not look good places on here.

On the inside of this digipak there are two black pages on the far left and the far right side of the inside of the digipak. On the left there are the initials BS in gold and on the right it says FF in gold text. The BS stands for Britney Spears and the FF stands for Femme Fatale. This is again promotion of the artist and promotion of the album. The black again is making this artist appear sexual and shows she has a dark side. The gold has connotations of material wealth and showing again that Britney Spears is in the pop genre as it is more materialistic. The middle image on the inside of the album is her sitting on the edge of a golden seat. She is sitting in a short black dress and has her hand brushing against her bare leg. This is being seductive and sexual to make her appeal to a male target  audience. The CD itself is also gold and shows this running theme of gold and an attractive woman living in their materialistic world who attracts men into this world.

By analysing this digipak I can take from it that I should have the bar code in the bottom right hand corner as I have seen this in many digipaks. As my genre is totally different to this one as I am doing indie pop and not pop I know not to use a gold edit with materialistic higher budget settings and sexual poses for my artist. Therefore I will ensure my locations are in low budget settings and my artist is wearing clothes that suit the genre.

Initial ideas of my music video

The song we will be using for our music video is 'Grow Old With Me' by Tom Odell.

This is a photo of the lyrics and our initial ideas of what will happen in each verse and chorus.
 

Brief description of what will happen in the music video:

The girl gets home from work after a long day to a candle lit dinner from her partner (the artist), the camera goes into his eye to show his thoughts for the future, there will be different shots of him admiring her whilst she sleeps, then of them old with grandchildren and of them at the park enjoying a picnic. There will also be performance shots of him lip synching the song and playing the piano. The camera then fades out of his thoughts for the future and he has proposed to his girlfriend and everything he has just been imagining for the future is his proposal to her of what he wants for them in the future, we see him propose with the last chorus of the song, as he is saying 'Grow Old with Me'.

Notes on real media texts I may take inspiration from

Lofelive - we are young

One music video that I may take inspiration from when creating my music video is an indie music video by Lofelive called 'we are young'. The reason I like this music video and think it would be good to take inspiration from is because it is very positive and does not have a negative love narrative to it which many music videos do. Another reason I like this music video is because there are shots of the old couple when they are old at present in 2070 and then there are many shots of them also when they are younger roughly in their early 20s in 2015. Although in my music video I would like them to start young and then see them older (opposite order to this film) I like how this music video does this and how some of the shots are identical to the other shots but the actors are old in these shots and young in the replicated shots.  For example there is a shot of them holding hands when they are old and then the same shot but with their hands young afterwards, showing that they are just as in love when they are old as they are when they are young. This is the kind of message that I would like my music video to have and be positive about their relationship lasting forever because love does.

There are many shots of them doing the same thing as a couple when they are young and when they are old, this supports the name of the song being 'we are young' as it shows even though they are old now they can still act young and be how they were when they were young. I like the fact that this music video links what happens in the music video to the title of the song. In my music video I would like to do this too. As my song I have chosen is called 'Grow Old With Me' I would like to show the couple from when they are young growing old together.






The last thing from this music video that I may take inspiration from is that the music video has a photo frame of a photo when the couple are young in it inside the house of the old couples house. In my music video I would like to have a photo of the couple who have grown old together looking young in one shot and then realising that this photo frame is in their house when they are old.

James Bay - Hold Back The River

James bay is of the indie genre. I particularly like this music video of James Bay's because it is a performance video and often in indie music videos there is a lot of performance. During the clip the shots are in high key lighting which is good because you can see what James Bay is lip synching and the instrument he is playing. I would like to take inspiration from this video by using high key lighting when my artist performs in the music video so it is clear what he is singing and also would like to have many performance shots so that my music video suits the genre. Although James Bay plays the guitar I am not sure yet whether my artist will play guitar or piano however I think with the song I have chosen the artist will probably play the piano and as in most of Tom Odell's music videos he plays the piano it may suit the indie pop generic conventions more as James Bay is Indie Rock.

 

In this music video I also like the fact that James Bay is wearing a shirt with rolled up sleeves and his clothing is dark. This is a common convention that is used within the indie music videos. In my music video during the performance shots I may get my actor to have his sleeves rolled up and have dark clothing. There are many different shots from different angles within this music video which I would like to ensure I have in my music video as it shows variety. Although I like there performance shots in this music video, I would like my music video to have a narrative and some performance shots as 'Hold Back The River' is 100% performance.

Jamie Lawson, Wasn't expecting that

Jamie Lawson is a British singer-songwriter who was the first artist signed by Ed Sheeran to his new label called Gingerbread Man Records. During the music video for his song called 'Wasn't Expecting That' there is a love narrative which run throughout the whole video. The very beginning few shots and that last couple of shots are in the same place. Although in this music video it is in hospital and is a sad beginning and end, for my music video I am considering having the beginning and end filmed in the same place. This may be in the dining room of a house in our music video as we are considering having the couple at a romantic meal and then finishing the music video with him proposing to her. I also like that there are shots of them at different ages throughout the music video. This music video starts with old and shows them getting younger. After seeing this in this music video I will consider using this idea in my music video but show them getting older.

I like that it shows the different stages of their lives. Another reason I like this music video is because all the settings are basic, low-budget, realistic settings that are in everyday life and they are not materialistic at all which makes this narrative very believable which means that audience members can relate to the storyline more. I would like to be able to do this in my music video, so that the audience really follow the narrative. Although the older people in the music video are not the same actors as the people who play the younger version of the characters, It is good because the actors look similar so it appears to the audience that they are the same people and again it is believable, this is very important when I create my music video, so that if I have older people acting the same role of the younger people, they must have similar characteristics e.g. if the woman is blonde young, she must be blonde in her older years (unless she is grey/white because she is really old).

By looking at these successful music videos it will help me take inspiration from things that work well within these music videos which I could include in mine, this is could because it will give me more ideas that I can work with when planning my music video.

Research into my chosen artist

Tom Odell is a 24 year old singer song writer who performs music of the genre Indie Pop. He is signed to Columbia records and In the Name Of. He became the first ever male artist to win the coveted BRITS Critics’ Choice Award in 2013. Tom Odell released his EP Songs from Another Love and his debut LP, Long Way Down. He began studying piano classically at age seven and was writing his own songs by twelve. Tom Odell doesn't have many music videos for his songs but when he does they are normally performance videos with a low budget setting.

An example of a performance music video of Tom Odell's is the music video for 'Real Love'. This shows a low budget setting of a studio which is based in a room that looks a bit like a garage or storage room. The instruments are acoustic and not electric to suits the generic conventions of indie pop.

Research into my chosen genre - Indie Pop

Our chosen genre is Indie Pop, here I have researched into our chosen genre looking at generic conventions different artists that are in this genre. I found out that indie pop music videos are often low budget due to the record labels being independent and not having loads of money to spend on the music video (expensive production/ location). Also the artist is often part of the narrative so they will be within the story being shown in the  music video as well as performing the song as there are often a lot of performance shots. The narrative is often quite strong as is shown through the visuals and often supported by the lyrics. There is normally low key lighting and many close ups of the artist. The close ups allow the audience to see the emotions of the artist and how they are feeling, this is often during songs and music videos about heartbreak. Some indie pop artists include Tom Odell, Bastille, Ellie Goulding and Fun.

Analysis of Pompeii music video (indie pop genre)

The genre of this music video is indie pop and the genre of the artist Bastille is also indie pop. Within this music video there is a negative narrative. This is because it is obvious to the audience that something bad has happened to him and now he is trying to escape it. When he sings 'if you close your eyes, does it almost feel like nothing changed at all?'. This is just like Pompeii, as something very bad happened there however, there is no escaping what has happened as what happened to Pompeii can clearly be seen as it is ruined, and this is what has happened to Bastille. He keeps seeing people with black eyes who have been hurt or have had something bad happened to them and he cant escape seeing what has been destroyed/ has happened to these people.

In the lyrics it says 'and the walls kept tumbling down ' etc and this is making reference to he name of the song Pompeii and the natural disaster which ruined the place. There is low key lighting during this part of the music video that shows the negativity in the video and the narrative. The fact that it is a natural disaster that took place in Pompeii suggests that maybe he thinks what happened in his love life was unavoidable just like that was. At the beginning of the music video the artist is standing on top of a very high wall and he is looking over the city. Mount Vesuvius did this over Pompeii it stood there high and then caused destruction and devastation to all of Pompeii, which suggests this is what he has done to 'the city of love' which he sings about and that he ruined his love life and caused it to break down.

At the beginning of this music video he is in his home which is shown by there being a mattress there. This mattress is ruined and is in a brick room which suggests this is just a temporary home for him to stay and hide in for the time being. The ruined mattress connotes that his bed is no longer complete without his partner there sharing it with him and that he cannot live in a proper home when he is alone. This location looks like an old car park. He then cycles down some old back streets during the rest of the music video and goes into different locations that most towns have like a convenience shop and casino. These settings suit this genre that Bastille is in because they are cheap, low budget settings that are generic conventions within this genre. Also the fact that he cycles a bike and doesn't drive a car goes with the low budget of indie music videos.

The lyrics in the later part of the song say 'how am I going to be an optimist about this?'. An optimist is someone that sees the bright side of a situation. During this point he then goes into high key lighting which is different as in the rest of the music video he has been hiding away in low key lighting. This suggests that he is going to try and see a bright side to the situation he is in which looks like he has possibly broken up with his girlfriend and what good can now come from this. He is at the location of some mountains and a lake at this point in the music video. This follows the genre of indie pop as they are natural locations and therefore low budget settings.

Bastille wear dark clothing throughout the whole of this music video which is a generic convention of indie pop artists. These clothes are simple, black trousers and a denim jacket. The target audience normally likes this about the artist as they are being themselves, wearing clothes they would normally wear and that most people would and are not being materialistic and showing their wealth by wearing designer clothes and clothes people wouldn't wear on a day to day basis. The target audience of this music video would be 18 - 25 I think. This is because it is the stereotypical age range of people who have experienced/ are experiencing going through broken down relationships that are still quite fresh in the mind (not like married adults who will have had this experience but are now  happily married to someone else). This music video would also be appropriate to both genres.

By analysing this music video which is the same genre as the music video I will be creating, it will help with the idea of having a narrative love story. I will also use dark clothing in mine so that the artist suits the genre and looks like other indie pop artists as well as having low budget settings which are a typical convention of an indie pop music video.

Analysis of How Long Will I Love You (Indie Pop Genre)

This music video is of the genre indie pop and Ellie Goulding the artist is of the genre indie pop and pop. In this music video there is a typical narrative of a love story between two young people and this story follows the stereotypical relationship of the a heterosexual couple. In this music video it is expected that there will be a clear narrative due to the genre and that settings will be low budget. Throughout this music video there are intertextual references to the short film 'Tom & Issy' and this is mentioned at the very beginning of the music video. However, there was no intertextual reference to the film 'About Time' which this song was used in. This song 'how long will I love you' does have another music video thought which has many intertextual references to the film 'About Time'.




The storyline (narrative) in this music video is about a young couple who live together. They are in love and mess about together in their spare time, the music video suggests that they dare each other to do silly things and the other one films this on their phone camera of a Nokia Lumia 1020. This is stereotypical for young people to be using technology all the time and for them to be immature as people don't expect you to be mature until you are older and married with kids however it is a little bit unexpected that they are quite so silly as they do have their own house and car which makes you think that they are old enough to have these items so therefore must be in full time jobs, so it is a bit surprising they are quite so immature. By seeing this happen a lot throughout the music video it shows there is a theme of love and immaturity.

 

The video reflects the lyrics a few times. When Ellie Goulding sings 'Stars are above you' she is sitting in  a low budget setting  studio with fairy lights around her. These fairy lights connote the stars that she is singing about. In this room the wall has pictures of a city in it too. This city looks an expensive place to live so is very different to where she Is filming this video and the house that her character and  partner live in together in this music video but has connotations that she will love him no matter where they live as long as they are on this planet together where the 'stars are above them'.

Another time when the video reflects the lyrics in the visuals is when the lyrics say 'how long will I love you' and in the visuals the audience see shots of her with her boyfriend together and then shots of an old couple kissing in a car park. This couple kissing foreshadows that the answer to her question 'how long will I love you' will be forever and the old couple represent them when they are older and that they will still love each other in years to come. During this music video there are many representations of age. There is a short part in the music video that Ellie Goulding goes and steals superman boxer shorts from someones back garden and then her boyfriend goes and models these boxer shorts in the middle of a street and both times they are recording each other on the phone as they think it is funny, another time is when she goes up and kisses an old man. These are stereotypical representations of age because it shows that because they are young they mess around a lot and do stupid/ silly things that they think are funny and many adults see young adults/ teenagers as immature. There are also non-stereotypical representations of age as well though. This is when the older couple kiss each other in public. This is because young people to not expect to see older people have public displays of affection and see them as less affectionate then youngsters as by this point the couple have probably been together a long time although just because you have been with someone a long time doesn't mean that you don't still love them and this video Is showing exactly this.

For the performance shots In this music video is starts off with Ellie Goulding sitting at an acoustic piano in her lounge. This is stereotypical for this genre of indie pop that she is using an acoustic piano rather than a digital piano because new digital pianos are expensive and do not create such a natural sound. She is then shot in a studio playing on her acoustic guitar and singing. This setting is also stereotypical for an indie pop music video because indie pop music videos are normally in cheaper low budget settings because the record label doesn't have a lot of money for big materialistic sets and also the target audience often like these settings as it is seen as more realistic and a believable narrative. The fact that she plays guitar and piano are also stereotypical generic conventions of this genre of indie pop.

During the narrative shots where she is with her boyfriend etc there is high key lighting to show how happy they are together but whilst she is in the performance shots in the studio there is low key lighting and a black and white effect added. This is to differentiate between what is a narrative and what is a performance shot.  The dark setting of the studio shows what it is like at night too as there is fairy lights for stars. At the beginning of the  music video there is typography before the narrative starts. This is a simple font with black text on a white background. This is so that what is on the background stands out. At the bottom it says 'Shot entirely on a Nokia Lumia 1020'. This is the phone/ camera used within the music video that the couple film everything they do whilst being silly on but is also used to film the entire music video. This is good advertising of the brand for Nokia but also was a phone that did not cost the record label very much and follows the low budget which an indie pop music video often has.

The target audience for this music video I think is boys and girls aged 15-22 . I think this because the music video targets them by showing a love story narrative that this age group can relate to as the couple are young and spend a lot of time together doing silly things that many young couples do. By analysing this music video it has been good for me when planning my music video due to them being the same genre. From this I will look at using low budget settings with a love story narrative.


 

Initial ideas on genre and audience for your music video

Genre

For the genre of my music video my initial idea for the genre that it will be is indie pop. The reason for this is because the generic conventions for indie pop include low budget settings, non materialistic props or clothing therefore there will not be big costumes that you would not wear on a day to day basis for example lady gaga costumes.

This is an example of a costume that lady gaga wears in her music video for 'Bad Romance'. Lady Gaga is of the genre pop and her music videos are very high budget productions. This means it is affordable for the producers of the music video to fund extravagant costumes and unusual locations for the music video to be set.




The fact that indie pop music videos are very low budget is good for my music video because this is a student music video and the budget is not very high. Another reason that indie pop is a good genre for my music video is because there is often a strong narrative in these music videos that is very realistic as set in a natural setting and not on a film set, this is more often then not about love. Therefore I will try and make my music video have a love narrative and have low budget, simple, natural looking settings. Another thing about the genre of indie pop is that within the music video there is often performance, this means that in my music video I will use performance shots of the artist on and instrument either piano or guitar and be lip synching the words of the song I choose. By playing an instrument as well it will support the genre as indie pop often has shots of the artist playing an instrument. The costume within the genre of indie pop if a male is the artist often is quite dark and not that smart, the artist sometimes has their sleeves rolled up to show them being chilled and laidback. The shots used often show emotion so in my music video I could use close ups to show this on their face.

Overall I think that the best genre for my music video would be indie pop because it will be easier for my group to organise locations, settings, props and clothing and this is all simple and low budget but also looks realistic which makes the music video more believable. I also think that it is important for the music video to have a strong narrative as then the audience can relate to the storyline and the lyrics of the song more as they will understand the meaning to the song. The song that I would like to do for my music video is 'Grow Old With Me' by Tom Odell as I think there could be a very strong narrative between a couple and I like that it is a very positive song, as many songs in the charts today are about heartbreak. Tom Odell is also of the genre Indie Pop so the song will suit the music video genre that I have chosen.

Audience

The audience for my music video will probably be boys and girls between the age of 17-25. This is because I think this is the age group that are most likely to connect with what is going on in the music video because stereotypically couples are starting to form at this kind of age and people will be in a relationship of have been in a relationship before at this point. This means that they will understand how loved up the couple is in the music video as that's how they feel in their relationship at this point 'the honeymoon period' where couples have just got together. I think the audience are likely to be heterosexual because the storyline within this music video is about a heterosexual couple, so heterosexual people may prefer to watch this music video and relate to what is going on the music video as my music video will have a lot of stereotypical representations of gender and sexuality for example, the man will wear dark clothes and the girl may wear more colourful clothes, the man will propose as this is most expected in society etc.

The majority of people that will watch my music video will probably be girls as stereotypically females are more into love stories within music videos than men as men are often not seen as sensitive and into watching love stories for example society often would expect a man to pick an action film over a romance film. The characters that will be in my music video will be in their early-mid twenties and therefore the upper end of the target audience in age (21-25) will watch this music video because they are of the same time in the life cycle and may be in a relationship and the people at the younger age of the target audience (17-20) will probably watch this music video as they would like the narrative of my music video to be them in a few years time as it is very positive.

Overall my initial idea of what I expect the target audience to be is boys and girls (mainly girls) of the ages between and including 17 and 25 as I think these people are stereotypically more likely to watch a music video that has a very strong love narrative about two people in their early-mid twenties, by promoting this music video to people of this age it will promote the song and artist as well as many people of this age are more likely to share the music video on social media for their friends to watch than people who are a lot older.

Analysed Lyrics - Will Young - Leave Right Now

Leave Right Now

 

I'm here just like I said
Though it's breaking every rule I've ever made
My racin' heart is just the same
Why make it strong to break it once again?

And I'd love to say I do, give everythin' to you
But I can never now be true, so I say

I think I better leave right now before I fall any deeper
I think I better leave right now, feeling weaker and weaker
Somebody better show me how before I fall any deeper
I think I'd better leave right now

I'm here so please explain
Why you're opening up a healing wound again
I'm a little more careful, perhaps it shows
But if I lose the highs at least I'm spared the lows

And I would tremble in your arms, what could be the harm
To feel my spirit calm? So I say

I think I better leave right now before I fall any deeper
I think I better leave right now, feeling weaker and weaker
Somebody better show me out before I fall any deeper
I think I better leave right now

I wouldn't know how to say how good it feels seeing you today
I see you've got your smile back, like you say, you're right on track
But you may never know why once bitten twice is shy
If I'm proud perhaps I should explain, I couldn't bear to lose you again

I think I better leave right now before I fall any deeper
I think I better leave right now, I'm feeling weaker and weaker
Somebody better show me out before I fall any deeper
I think I better leave right now

Yes, I will

I think I better leave right now, I'm feeling weaker and weaker
Somebody better show me out before I fall any deeper
I think I better leave right now

My Pitch

At the beginning of the music video Will Young is outside his boyfriends door and its dark and wet outside. He sings the lines 'I'm here just like I said....' and sings most of the words to his boyfriend and then says 'I think I better leave right now' and walks from the door and starts walking down the street at night in the rain singing the lyrics. When the lyrics go to 'I'm getting weaker and weaker...' he is sitting on the kitchen floor in his flat heavily drinking as he has a drinking problem now that he is heartbroken'. And then it goes back to him walking in the street. Then when he says 'and I would tremble in your arms' he is on the kitchen floor drinking again and his ex boyfriend walks into the flat as he realises Will is drinking to much at the moment and sits on the floor next to him and takes the alcohol away and holds Will in his arms. Then the audience sees Will Young sing the chorus again playing the piano and then it goes to him and his boyfriend back together doing normal couple things like cooking breakfast together, getting ready for work in the morning, walking down the street together holding hands as he sings the final verse with lyrics such as 'If I'm proud perhaps I should explain, I couldn't bear to lose you again'.

My pitch is totally different to the original music video because in the real music video will young is singing to the camera as if the camera is Will Young's ex partner whereas in mu music video you can see his boyfriend (as there will be an actor). Also my music video idea is shot in many different locations whereas the original is in one place.

Real Music Video - Leave Right now




Why it is helpful to analyse lyrics

It is helpful to analyse lyrics when creating a music video because the lyrics help build up a story in a music video. The lyrics may have a lot of meaning to the artist and can help you understand their emotions and how they are feeling through the lyrics they have wrote. When creating a music video the lyrics often link with the visuals (as said in Goodwin's theory) although are not usually 100% literal (everything said in the lyrics is shown in the visuals). When creating my music video, I will need to look at the lyrics and analyse them to help me decide what I will make the narrative of the music video and what emotion/ mood I will try and portray within the video.